


What Might Have Been

by SRassier



Series: What Might Have Been [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Action, Assassins, Ben Hargreeves' Tentacles | Bentacles, Circus Performers, Cops, Family Reunions, Kidnapping, Let Number Five | The Boy Say Fuck, Lots of weird sibling combos, Protective Number Five | The Boy, The Handler A+ Parenting, The Hargreeves with different parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:26:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SRassier/pseuds/SRassier
Summary: Hargreeves dies when the kids are all 10. They are put into the system and adopted out to various families.15 years later, find out which ones ended up on the wrong side of the law, who ended up in the circus, and if they can all come together when Five and Luther's Mom decides that running a criminal empire isn't just enough with her current kids...she wants more.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, Dolores/Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), The Handler/Leonard Peabody
Series: What Might Have Been [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857238
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	1. The Death of Reginald Hargreeves

On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.

He got seven.

~~~Ten Years Later~~~

Marcy had been a social worker for nearly 30 years. She had seen kids of every shape and size go into the system for so many reasons she lost track. Some had to be put up for adoption because their parents could not care for them, some because their parents chose not to care for them. Too many for her to count went into the system kicking and screaming because their folks were arrested, or worse. The scene in front of her should have been chaotic. Seven kids who just lost their father should be a tornado of emotions. There should be some crying, some in shock, some angry…

But the Hargreeves children sat stoically in the parlor of their expansive mansion, all dressed in identical uniforms, barely an emotion to be seen on their pre-teen faces.

She sat on a chair facing the group and opened the folder that was handed to her by a lawyer…one of the many people currently running around the house doing god knows what. Marcy didn’t care, she only cared about the kids and it was her job to figure out what to do with them.

She decided a roll call was in order, so she knew who she was talking to. As she glanced at the names, she had to read them twice. “This can’t be right,” she mumbled to herself. Looking up, she found seven sets of eyes on her and decided that blunt may be the best way to deal with this brood. “First off, I am very sorry for your loss.” She was answered with a few nods and a mumbled thank you from the tall boy with blonde hair sitting on the end of the line closest to the door. “I am a bit confused though; I was given a list of your names but all that is here is a bunch of numbers?”

The blonde boy spoke up. “Yes ma’am. Those are our names. I’m Number One.” He pointed to each of the other children starting with the boy on his right and going down the row, “This is Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven.” They were even sitting in order.  
“Alright.” She composed herself before continuing. “Your father left very little instructions on what was to happen to you in the event of his untimely death.” She heard a huff and saw Number One giving the boy to his right a stern look. She focused on the file and continued. “It says here that each of you were adopted, and there are no blood relatives that anyone is aware of.” She looked up at the group. “He did ask that the twins not be separated.”  
“Twins?” It was the girl in position number 3 that spoke up. “Two of us are twins?”  
Oh God. “You didn’t know?” The blank stares gave her the answer. “Um.” She searched through the file. “It says here, Numbers 1 and…5?”

Number Five’s head snapped in Number One’s direction, the two boys staring at each other for a moment before looking back at her. The blonde’s mouth opened but it was the dark-haired boy who spoke first. “You can separate us…we’d be fine with that.”  
“Five!” The small girl on the end whispered. He simply shrugged and Marcy took it as her cue to continue. 

“It also says here that Number Seven…” The small girl’s head perked up, she looked terrified. “You are seeing a Dr. Pogo? For your anxiety?”  
“Yes ma’am.” Her voice was barely audible.  
“We are going to try to keep you in New York so you can keep seeing him, ok honey?” Her head bowed back down, and her bangs shifted over her eyes as she nodded.

“Mr. Hargreeves does have a few names of people who are interested in adopting you. Family friends it says, they will be screened before anything is decided upon.”   
“Family friends?” Number One asked.  
“Don’t worry, we won’t send you with anyone that doesn’t pass our rigorous selection process.”  
Number Six raised his hand. “Yes dear?”  
“What if there isn’t anyone who wants to adopt us?” As he spoke, she could see the question was on all of their minds, even Numbers Five and Two who both were working extra hard to look like they didn’t give a damn.  
“That’s not something you need to worry about. Tonight, I’m going to take you somewhere where you can get a hot meal and we will set you up with a place to sleep.”  
“Why can’t we stay here?” Number Five asked.  
“Because there won’t be any adults here. You need to be where you can be taken care of.”  
“We can take care of ourselves.”  
“I’m sure you are quite capable of that, but rules are rules. And the fact of the matter is you are all underage” He flopped back into his chair and folded his arms across his chest. She knew from working with kids over the years that this should not be taken as a concession, simply a child who no longer wanted to argue. 

After taking time to gather what meager belongings they each had, the Hargreeves children were following Marcy out to her van which would drive them to the next chapter in their lives.


	2. Breaking Up is Hard to Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids all get adopted and have to go their separate ways.

The next few weeks were increasingly stressful for the seven. They spent the entire time in the group home with nothing to do but wonder. Wonder if they would be separated and how, where each of them would go, and when it would happen. One day, about three weeks into their stay, they were all sitting around a table in the day room when Marcy walked in with a forced smile on her face. Splitting up families was never easy but finding someone to adopt seven kids was even harder.

“I’ve got some news.” The kids perked up, more anxious than enthusiastic. Numbers 1 and 5, and 4 and 6…your father’s friends have all passed the background check and will be picking you up in the next few days to go to your new homes.” Four and Six looked at each other and back at Marcy. It was Six who spoke. “We get to go together?”  
“Yup!” Marcy smiled at the look of relief on the two boys’ faces. She knew this was going to be hard for all of them but at least if they could partner up, it may make things a little less difficult. “I talked to them on the phone today. They are a lovely couple named,” She looked at her notes, “Jerry and Hannah Groves. And guess what?”  
“What?” Number Four was slowly warming to the idea of living with anyone BUT Reginald Hargreeves.   
“They run a carnival!”  
Four and Six looked at each other and smiled. Thoughts of free rides and cotton candy ran through their heads and they immediately started whispering to each other about what they would be doing first.

Marcy left the two boys to their chatter and addressed One and Five. “Your foster parents will be here in the morning. Their names are Kate and Leonard and they already have a boy and a girl so you will be joining a big happy family!”  
“Right.” Five sat slumped in his chair and Marcy couldn’t help but notice that he had not let go of Seven’s hand the entire conversation. “Happy where?”  
“They live in upstate New York in a very cozy home. I was there a few days ago for an inspection, they even have a dog!”  
Seven gave Five a comforting look. “You love dogs.”  
“Whatever.” He looked up at Marcy. “Will we still be able to see each other?” He seemed to be referring to the whole group, but Marcy suspected he only cared about seeing one of them.  
“I have informed all of your families,” She addressed the remaining three, “And will inform potential families of your unique situation. But it is ultimately up to them.” Faces fell as the group realized that this may truly be the last they see of some of their siblings. “I’m so sorry, it really is the best I can do.”

~~~~~~

The next morning, One and Five silently packed their few belongings into their backpacks as their soon to be ex siblings watched. “This sucks,” Four piped in, feeling slightly guilty for his excitement yesterday over getting to stay with Six.   
“It wasn’t realistic to think that we would all go together.” Five tried his best to sound as if he didn’t care, the slight waver in his voice threatening to betray him. “None of us really expect someone with Hargreeves money to suddenly swoop in and take us all.”  
Marcy called up the stairs that their new family had arrived and One and Five turned to face the others. “Well, I guess this is goodbye.” At the word, Seven ran up to Five and threw her arms around his neck. He tried to keep it together but finally dropped his bag and hugged her back. “It’s going to be ok Seven.”  
“Yeah,” One added. “We will still see each other. I’m sure of it.” He glanced over at Three who was pointedly NOT making eye contact with him. He placed his hand on Five’s shoulder, urging his brother to let go of Seven. At the loss of contact, she shrunk back next to Six who put his arm around her. Five and One took one last look at their siblings and headed down the stairs to their new life. 

~~~~~~

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Marcy standing next to a woman who despite looking only in her thirties had stark white hair done up in a style not seen since the 50’s. It matched her Blouse and skirt combo and bright red heels that Five thought made her look like a housewife barbie. She had her arm linked with a man about her age, wearing a sweater and khaki pants and a large painted on grin. “Hey guys!” He beamed and the woman tilted her head, her sickly-sweet smile getting even larger. “You look like you’re ready to go explore your new home!”  
“Right.” Five deadpanned, gaining him a poke to the side with One’s elbow.   
“Oh, he is so precious!” The woman stepped forward and reached her hand up to pat Five on the cheek. “You are going to get along quite will with Cha-Cha…she’s a bit sassy too.”  
“Cha Cha?” Five looked her right in the eye, immediately not trusting her fake smile. “Is that the dog?”  
“No silly…it’s your new sister! It’s a fun little nickname isn’t it? She loves to dance so we call her Cha Cha!”  
“Great.”

Finally, their staring contest came to an end as the woman turned back to her husband. “You ready dear?”  
“Lead the way honey!”  
“Jesus.” Five said under his breath. If One heard it, he was too busy rolling his eyes to respond. They followed their new parents out of the building and to a minivan. When Leonard opened the back door for them, they saw that it is was already occupied with a girl and a boy about their age. The girl was severe looking with dark skin and a bob haircut. She didn’t bother looking at the new additions to their family as they climbed into the seats behind her. The boy was much bigger than the three of them and as One sat down, the boy put out his hand. “The name’s Hazel.”  
One took it, “Nice to meet you Hazel. I’m One, this is my brother Five.”  
“What kind of names are those?” The girl snapped.  
Five shot her an incredulous look, “Yeah, I’d much rather have a normal name like Cha Cha!”  
“Now now, children!” Kate called from the driver’s seat. “I will have none of this bickering.” She started the van and the four kids sat silently as they pulled away from the curb and off down the road.

~~~~~~

Four and Six were ecstatic. They whispered well into the night about what kind of future was in store for them being what Four was referring to as ‘heirs to a carnival empire.’ They tried to keep their voices down as the remaining three had not heard anything about where they were going yet but their excitement was palpable. 

In the morning, they packed their bags and met Marcy downstairs just as their ex-brothers did the day before. The couple before them did not look like the glamorous, fun loving, freewheeling carnival parents they were hoping for. The people before them looked like villains from a children’s book. Short, stout, aged and not a smile to be seen on their worn faces. At least the woman tried a half smile when the boys came into view. 

After introductions were complete, Four and Six followed the couple out to the parking lot. The climbed into the back seat of a large boat of a car and the woman called back for them to put their seatbelts on and before they could click them into place, the car surged forward with a jolt. 

They drove for hours, only stopping for gas and what the man referred to as ‘road snacks.’ It was the first time in their lives that Four and Six were told they could eat whatever they wanted so their lunch consisted of potato chips, candy and soda. Six whispered that there’s no way this will last so they better take advantage of it now. 

It was dark when the boat pulled into a dirt lot surrounded by caravans and tents. It sputtered to a halt, waking the two boys who were dead asleep in the back seat. Four rubbed his eyes and looked around to see that a large group of people were approaching the car. He nudged Six and after getting his bearings, his brother joined him in wondering what the hell was going on.

The car door opened and Four nearly fell out as he was leaning on it trying to figure out who all these people were. Jerry grabbed him by the collar and hauled him out, almost dropping him at the feet of the growing crowd before going in after Six. He plopped the boy next to Four and announced. “Alright everybody listen up! Hargreeves finally kicked it…our cash cows have arrived!” Four and Six exchanged worried glances as Hannah took them both by the hands and lead them to one of the trailers, throwing them and their bags inside before slamming the door behind them. Four was about to reach over and open it as they heard the sound of a pad lock clicking shut, closing them off to the world.

~~~~~~

Number Seven was devastated. She sat alone on her bunk surrounded by the now empty beds that once housed her siblings. Over the last few days, each of them was taken from her. First, her best friend left along with his newly discovered twin. From what she could hear from the top of the stairs, they sounded like a nice enough couple, and they already had a couple of kids so One and Five would have built in friends. Next, Four and Six left with their family. Two days later, Three was adopted by a very rich couple, Marcy said that the woman was an actress but they were never allowed to watch television so Seven had never heard of her. Her and Two sat in the room for one more day before Marcy called on him. He joined a pair of married police officers and their daughter, he always said he wanted to be a cop…he’d be happy there.

No one came for Seven. She knew she’d be last. She always was. Marcy assured her that she was a wonderful young lady and that someone would want her. She kept her appointments with Dr Pogo and waited. She waited for nearly a month with no change. Finally, one day as Seven was practicing her violin, Marcy rushed into her room with a bright smile on her face.


	3. One and Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One and Five are all grown up. They are given a new assignment from their Mom and it puts a damper on Five's relationship. Being a hit-man for the mob is hard!

Fifteen Years Later

“Bullshit!” Five tried his best to hold back the laughter threatening to burst out of him. He knew if he started laughing, he would drop Mr. What’s-his-name and as much as he would love for Luther to have to make two trips, he also wanted to get home and the faster they got these guys in the trunk of the rental, the faster they could get on the road.

“It’s not bullshit!” Luther called back over the shoulder that didn’t have a dead body slung over it. “Cha Cha would kick your ass in a legitimate fight.”  
“What fucking world do you live in?” He dropped what’s-his-name on the ground and dug in his pocket for the keys so he could pop the trunk. “Sure, she’s fast, but in case your thick skull forgot, I’m literally the fastest man on the freaking planet.” He watched as his brother tossed the body in the trunk and reached down to help Five with the second one. “It’s science.”  
“Yeah, but I said a ‘legitimate’ fight, that means no powers…just skill.”  
Five stopped to ponder the new information. “Naw…sis would down swinging, but I’d still win.”

He slammed the trunk shut and Luther gave the car a shove, pushing it off the bridge into the deep muddy waters below. They walked back to their car and threw their gear into the back seat before Five climbed into the driver’s side and started it up. “What about you and Hazel? How long you think he’d last?”  
“Don’t know, but I wouldn’t fight Hazel. You and Cha Cha are the violent ones.”  
“Says the guy who just killed someone with his bare hands.” Five knew that he went too far. In all their years working for Mom, Luther was the only one who never really accepted his life. He always kept his hopes up that he was more than just a hired gun, a killer who did as some sadistic woman ordered. “Sorry.”

The silence of the ride was interrupted by Luther’s cell phone ringing. He pulled it out and looked at it, sighing. “It’s Mom.”  
“Tell her I’m not here.”   
“Right,” Luther chuckled before putting the call on speaker. “Hey Mom.”  
“Hello, darlings!” Five rolled his eyes. Luther held back a laugh. “How did everything go with our friends in Pennsylvania?”  
“It’s all taken care of. We’re headed home now.”  
“About that…” Luther pursed his lips, knowing what was coming. “As much as I miss my babies and want nothing more than to give you hugs and kisses, I’m afraid I’m going to have to sidetrack your trip home.” 

“Seriously?”  
“Now, Five…I don’t need your attitude. It is a job that has needed doing for some time, but the target is…quite mobile and we haven’t been able to get near him, until now!”  
Five sighed, knowing that he would never win. “Who’s the target?”  
“That’s a good boy.” There was the sound of shuffling papers and their mother’s nails clicking as she waited impatiently for who could only be Leonard to get her the information. “His name is Jerry Groves. He runs a traveling circus type thing and he owes the organization a lot of money. He has been given many chances, and his time is up.” Five glanced at Luther’s face as it fell, he was clearly hoping it would just be a collection job. “You are to go collect what you can and make an example out of him. Is that clear?”  
“Yes ma’am,” Five answered for the two of them.  
“Alright, be safe…love you!” The men in the car stayed silent. “I said, I love you!”  
“Love you too, Mom.” Luther choked out and quickly pressed the button, hanging up the phone.

“Shit!” Five slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “Delores is going to kill me.”  
“Why?”  
“We have been on the road for over a week. I promised her that when I got back, we would go up to her parent’s cabin for the weekend. I’ve postponed twice now.” He shook his head. “You know, for a woman who claims to want ‘a bunch of grandbabies’ she has quite the knack for keeping me from having sex.”  
“I’m sure she’ll understand.”

As if on cue, Five’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out and muttered. “Shit.” Pushing the button, he brought it up to his ear and in the calmest voice he could muster he answered, “Hey babe!”  
Luther tried to occupy himself with a game on his phone but being in a car with someone makes it kind of impossible not to hear their side of a phone conversation.  
“Yeah, about that. Mom just called…I know but…it’s a quick detour, I’m sure I’ll be back by…I know this isn’t the first time…now wait a minute…you don’t mean that…babe?…babe?” Five gently pulled the car over to the side of the road and put it in park. He left the keys in the ignition and climbed out, leaving Luther alone in the car. He walked over to the other side of the car and Luther watched as his brother put his phone back into his pocket and put his hands on his hips, looking up to the sky. 

After a few minutes, Five came back around and climbed in, putting the car in drive and pulling back out onto the road. Luther waited a few moments before asking him, “You want to talk about it?”  
“No. I want to go kill this mother fucker and get back home so I can go pick up my shit before Delores decides to burn it on her front lawn.”  
Luther decided it was best to stay quiet for the rest of the drive.


	4. Finding Four and Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five and Luther head to the circus to find their next target but they find much more than they bargained for.

“What a shithole.” Five remarked as he and Luther walked through the gates to the ‘Groves Family Circus.’ Luther always tried to remain positive about as much as he could in life but even he had to admit…it really was a dump. The rides looked like they should be condemned, the employees looked like their uniforms and attitudes came straight from the great depression and you couldn’t pay Luther to try any of the food.

“How are we going to collect anything?” Luther said as the pair strolled down the main thoroughfare, clocking each and every worker and exit in case of a fight. “They can’t be making any money.”  
Five shrugged and they walked a bit further down. Suddenly he saw a small crowd gathering near one of the larger tents at the end of the row. “There.” The two men headed over to see what the fuss was all about.

As they approached the tent entrance, they heard a barker calling out to the crowd to “Come inside and see The Seance. He can commune with the dead and for a small fee, he will tell you the secrets…of the afterlife!” Luther watched as people shelled out money for tickets and was about to ask Five ‘how dumb can people get’ when he saw his brother staring at something on the wall next to the Séance poster.

“What is it?” He walked up next to him and when he saw what Five was staring at, his jaw dropped. It was a poster for the main attraction. Touted as “The Horror,” it was a cartoon drawing of a young boy holding up his shirt to reveal monstrous tentacles protruding forth from his midsection. It was an old poster, but Luther recognized the face on the young boy. “Six.”  
“You don’t think…” Five pointed at a newer poster for The Séance featuring an actual photo of a man about their age wearing a ridiculous turban looking into a crystal ball.   
“Four?”  
Five ignored the question/answer and just whispered, “Holy shit.”

The barker called out to them. “You look like a couple of brave young lads, care to try your luck with the Challenge of the Horror?”  
Five turned sharply at the man and balled up his fists, ready to jump on his back and snap his neck before Luther put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and spoke. “What challenge?”  
“Simple. Anyone who can sit in the front row of the Horror Show and not flinch once…gets to go backstage and meet the man himself afterwards.”  
“How many have met him?”  
The Barker smiled, showing off two gold teeth. “None.”

“I’ll take one ticket. Front row center.” The barker grinned, turning to the other patrons, and announcing that ‘this brave young lad is going to take his chances being mere FEET from the horror. Many have attempted it…all have run in terror!”   
As he babbled on, trying to get more people to buy the higher priced ticket as Luther had, Five looked at him. “One ticket? You think I can’t hack it?”  
“No. I think you should go find out the mysteries of the afterlife.” They both stole a glance at The Séance’s poster and Five nodded. If their brothers were here, they needed to get them the hell out before they burned the placed to the ground.

~~~

Luther walked into the tent and took his seat in the middle of the front row, ignoring the whispers of the other patrons who had taken their seats starting in the back. His mind was a mix of what he was going to say when he finally saw his long-lost brother and how Five was handling the reunion happening in the next tent. He was trying to think of what he was going to say when the lights in the room suddenly dimmed and a short, stout man came out to address the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The little fat man started, and Luther suddenly recognized him from the photo Mom had sent to his phone and was brought back to the reality of why he was really here. It was Groves himself. Luther and Five’s target was standing mere feet from him and all he could think about what getting to talk to Six. “You are about to witness something so strange, so terrible, that I implore you to hold tight to your loved ones and pray that what you are about to see does not haunt your dreams…for the rest of your days.” 

Luther rolled his eyes as the man stepped aside, flourishing his arm as the curtain rose revealing a young man Luther’s age only much, much smaller. Luther let out a half gasp, half whisper, “Six.” He sat in a cage made of plexiglass and was dressed in rags like you would see on Frankenstein’s monster. The young man made no attempt to speak, he didn’t seem to have a script like Groves, he simply kept his head hung low, grasped the hem of his tattered shirt and lifted it clear up to his neck. 

At this point, Luther saw why no one ever beat the ‘Challenge of the Horror.’ The tentacles shot forth from Six’s stomach with such a fury that anyone with no prior knowledge of what they looked like would surely flinch at the very least, but most likely jump from their seat and run. The monstrous arms slammed against the glass case with such force that if Luther hadn’t tussled with the very same creature from the tender age of 4, he too, may have jumped. As it was, he stayed perfectly still, earning a shocked look from Groves from the side of the tent. 

Once the audience was sufficiently frightened, they began cheering, despite the pained look on Six’s face as the creature retreated into his torso, Groves walked over to Luther and offered his hand to shake. “Damn son.” He had to crane his neck to see eye to eye with him when Luther stood. “You got balls of steel!”  
Luther shook the man’s hand and grinned. “It takes a lot to rile me.”  
“That it does. You wanna meet it?”  
Luther cringed at the way he referred to him, “Sure. Lead the way.”

~~~

“Next!” A short, fat woman held out her hand toward Five, smiling with what was left of her teeth. He gave her a small grin and handed her his ticket. She looked him up and down. “You sure got dressed up real nice for the circus.”   
Five forced his grin wider and leaned in close, smelling the cigarettes and gin on her breath. “I never know when I am going to meet a fine young thing like yourself…have to look presentable you know.”  
“Well, I hate to burst your bubble Sugar, but I’m married.”  
“Yeah, and I’m nauseous…” She straightened up as his smile was replaced by a scowl. “Can I go in now?” She waved her hand and he pulled back the curtain and entered the tent.

He was immediately hit with a thick stench of incense. He coughed as the strong smell of sage hit his nose and he waved a hand in front of his face to try to clear up some of the offending odor. As he passed through the cloud, he heard a calm almost ethereal voice beckon him toward it. “Enter, and please take a seat so we may commune with the one you have lost.” Five was sure someone could HEAR him roll his eyes as hard as he did it. He rounded the chair and planted himself on it before looking up and found himself face to face with Four. The other man had his eyes closed and was sort of swaying back and forth but there was no mistaking it, this was Number Four, all grown up.

“It is a fine night to commune with the deceased. The spirits are lively and ready to speak.” Four spoke the words without even registering that there was another person in the room, clearly following a script and Five couldn’t help but wonder how many times a night he said these very words. “Who are we contacting this fine evening? Friend? Lover?”  
Five swallowed hard. “My father.”  
“Yes.” Four opened his eyes but they stayed focused on the crystal ball in front of him and Five had to smile at the ridiculousness of someone with Four’s abilities pretending that he needed a hokey prop to get the job done. “Losing a parent at such a young age can be devastating. What is his name so that I may call to the afterlife and offer him a spiritual hand to bring him forth for you?”  
“Reginald Hargreeves.”

The act ended abruptly. Four’s eyes shot up and met Five’s with a look of terror at the sound of the name. His face slowly melted into a smile as his mind caught up with his vision. “Five?”  
“You gonna call the old man or what? I have a bone to pick with him.”  
Four got up so fast he knocked over the chair he was sitting on. Five was barely out of his seat when he was tackled into a hug. “Hey, easy on the suit.”  
“Shit.” Four leaned back and just took in the sight of him. “I mean…Shit.”  
“Yeah. Imagine our surprise when he saw our long-lost brothers on a couple of circus posters?”  
“We?”  
“Yeah, Luther is here too.” He corrected himself at Four’s confused look. “Sorry…uh…Number One.”  
“Luther.” Four pondered the name for a moment. “Yeah, he seems like a Luther.”

Before the two could continue, the woman called from outside. “You got a line, hurry it up in there!”  
“Oh.” Klaus quickly rushed to pick up his chair and pointed to the exit. “I have to go back to work. Can you stick around?”  
“Yeah.” Five suddenly felt guilty at what he had to do to Four’s livelihood. “We have some business in town, we’ll be here for a bit.” He pulled out a small notebook and a pen. “I’ll give you my number, when you get done, call me and we’ll all grab some food or something.”  
Four looked dejected. “Oh, yeah…Ben and I don’t really…” He struggled to find words that sounded better than, ‘we are hostages.’ “We can’t leave the grounds.”  
Five took in his brother’s demeaner but didn’t question. “Ok, I’ll wait out back for you.”  
“Thanks.” And with that, Five left the tent and milled around as he watched the crowd slowly dissipate, all the while thinking of a plan to not only end this place, but to get his brothers out in the process.

~~~

Luther stepped up into the caravan as Groves held the door open for him. Once inside, the door closed behind him and he heard a voice from the back of the trailer. “You must be brave…or stupid. No one ever makes it without at least flinching.”  
Luther could hear movement and watched Six’s silhouette putter around behind a sheet strung up across the room. “Yeah, well, I grew up in sort of a house of horrors…not much scares me.”  
“Damn. If this doesn’t scare you…I’d hate to know what kind of shit you grew up with.” He pushed back the sheet and walked over to Luther. Once he got close enough, Six studied Luther’s face and the big man saw a hint of recognition in the look he gave him. “What did you say your name was?”  
“Luther.”  
“Nice to meet you Luther. I’m Ben.” He walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, grabbing two waters. He offered one to Luther and he took it with a pained smile.   
Luther figured he may as well get it over with. “Luther is the name my Mom gave me after I got adopted.”  
“I was adopted too!”  
“Before that, my name was Number One.”

Ben stopped in his tracks; the water bottle frozen in mid gulp as Luther’s words registered. He slowly lowered his drink and took another look at the man in front of him. He let out a small chuckle and grinned. “So that’s why you didn’t flinch…you two had already met.”  
“Good to see you Six.”  
Ben struggled to keep the tears from flowing as he crossed the short distance to pull his long-lost sibling into a hug. Luther returned it and the two simply stood for a moment, holding each other as if it would erase all the bad in their lives. 

Ben pulled away and excitedly tried to fill Luther in on as much as he could. “Klaus…I mean Four…he’s here too!”  
“Yeah, I know. Five is talking to him right now.”  
“Five is here?”  
“Yup. We are here doing a job for our Mom and saw your posters.”  
“Your Mom?”  
“Yeah, she’s…intense.” Luther couldn’t stand to see the hopeful look in Ben’s eyes as if Luther being there would solve all his problems instead of creating new ones. “I’m not going to sugar coat it. We’re here to kill Groves.”  
Ben simply stared at Luther and blinked for a moment before asking, “how can I help?”


	5. Plan A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delores is pissed. Klaus and Ben see what their brothers have been up to. And Five calls an unlikely alley to help him deal with Dad.

“Now the bastard is screening my calls!? Un-freaking-believable!” Amanda Timmons had to sidestep to dodge the cell phone that her boss chucked in her general direction. What was it with models and throwing cell phones? “First, he cancels on me, then he doesn’t even have the decency to argue when I dump his ass, and now that I’ve calmed down and want to talk, I keep getting his voice mail?! UH! That man is the most frustrating…UGH!” This was calm?

Amanda walked over to the discarded phone and scooped it up, checking for damage. She had worked as Delores’ personal assistant for three years now and the only thing she ever saw her boss get riled up about, was her boyfriend. To be honest, she didn’t understand what Delores saw in the guy. Sure he was good looking, and always dressed in tailored suits but there was something about him. He was a bit too mysterious for Amanda. He was curt to nearly everyone he talked to (including her) and almost always seemed to be on edge, constantly clocking exits as if he might need to make a quick getaway.

“Maybe he just needs time.” Delores quickly looked at Amanda as if she forgot she was even in the room. “He did just get dumped by his girlfriend of four years. The guy may need a bit of recovery time.”  
Delores’ face started to soften. She suddenly looked a bit guilty about her outburst. “You’re right.” She walked over to the bar on the far side of her condo and grabbed a decanter and a glass. “You want a drink?”  
“Sure.”  
Delores grabbed another glass and poured for the two of them. Handing one of the glasses to her assistant she smiled a small, embarrassed smile. “Sorry about the phone. I just…” She took a sip of the alcohol and sighed as it warmed her throat. “I just love the ass hole.”  
“I know,” Amanda nodded and as Delores made her way to the bathroom, she muttered under her breath. “I don’t know WHY…but I know.”

As Amanda put the glass up to her lips to take a sip, there was a knock at the door. A look of confusion crossed her face as she knew that Five was nowhere near enough to get here in this short of a time (unless he abandoned his brother and jumped), and no one else was expected. She put the glass down and went to answer it as she heard Delores close the bathroom door behind her. Amanda opened the door and found herself looking down the barrel of a gun. She gasped and turned into the apartment to warn Delores but felt something hard come down on the back of her head and she felt herself lose consciousness.

~~~~~~

Jerry Groves was putting the cash take for the night in the safe in his trailer when his wife came bursting in the door, out of breath and shaking. “They’re gone.”  
“What the hell are you talking about woman? Who’s gone?”  
“Klaus…and Ben…gone.”  
Jerry’s eyes glazed over, and he reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders. “What do you mean gone? That’s not possible. I locked them in myself after that guy left.”  
Still out of breath, she simply shook her head and held up the industrial strength padlock that they used on their ‘son’s’ trailer. It was torn in two pieces.  
“What the hell?”

“Yeah, sorry about the lock.” Jerry and his wife looked to the door to find Luther and Five standing in their matching suits, matching postures and blank looks on their faces. “I’d buy you a new one but, you won’t be needing it.”  
Five turned to look at his brother. “Was that a quip?” He put his hand on his heart. “I’m so proud of you.”  
“Shut up, Five.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jerry started moving toward his desk slow enough that he thought the two men in his office wouldn’t notice. He was wrong.   
Luther pulled out a 9mm and pointed it in his direction. “Not so fast Jerry. I’m gonna need you to stay put.”  
Jerry stopped and threw his hands up.  
“I’m Luther, this is my brother.” Five nodded at the couple. “You owe our Mom some money. She has given you quite a few opportunities to pay. Your time is up.”  
“Shit. You’re the Handler’s kids?” Jerry’s wife piped in. “Look, we already told that psycho bitch she sent last time that we would pay as soon as we got the money.”

Five disappeared in a flash of blue, appearing in front of the woman and threw her against the wall, thrusting a knife at her throat stopping it just before it sliced into her neck. She screamed, “what the fuck!?”  
“Careful how you talk about my sister.”   
Luther sighed in frustration. “Five.”   
“What?”  
“She is a psycho bitch.”  
Five turned his head slightly so he could keep an eye on the woman and still glance at Luther out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah but she’s OUR psycho bitch.”

“You guys have issues.” Klaus called from the door to the office. He and Ben had been watching the whole scene unfold and quite frankly, he was getting anxious to have it all done with. “You gonna kill them or what?”  
“Boys.” Hannah’s voice suddenly turned sweet, reminding Five of Mom as she tried to talk her way out of the situation. “I was so worried about you!”  
“Save it.” Ben looked at the woman who spent the past 15 years forcing him to endure the pain of unleashing the monsters inside him to make a quick buck, then locking him and Klaus in their trailer not allowing for a normal life. “Don’t pretend like we mean anything more to you then a paycheck.”

Luther was standing next to Jerry now and motioned for him to open the safe. Once open, he instructed the man to put everything in it, money, papers, even jewelry into a bag and hand it over. Jerry did as he was told and was starting to relax when he heard what sounded like a screw being tightened. He looked back to see Luther screwing a silencer on the end of his pistol and heard his wife whimper. “Please.”  
Five kept his eyes on the woman as he instructed Klaus and Ben, “you guys are going to want to meet us at the car.”

Ben seemed determined to stay but Klaus knew better than to argue. He grabbed his brother by the arm and dragged him out of the trailer and to the parking lot. “What the hell?”  
Klaus finally let go when he figured Ben was going to stay put. “I’m kind of guessing that wasn’t a request. It was an order.”  
“But…”  
“Now, I know brother dear, that you want to see their demise as much as I do but remember…it’s been 15 years. We don’t know One and Five anymore. I for one will not get on their bad side simply because I want to see some douche nozzles suffer.”  
Ben took in all that he said and resigned to just be content in the knowledge that it was going to get done, even if he didn’t get to watch.

~~~

Klaus and Ben watched through the back window as their ‘home’ for the past 15 years went up in flames. They watched until the car made enough turns so that all they could only see was faint orange and red lights in the distance as they drove further and further away from the destruction. Once they were satisfied that they would never see that awful place again, they settled back in their seats and faced front, not knowing if they got themselves out of a mess, or just into a whole new one.

“God Damnit!” The men in the back were pulled out of their thoughts as Five gruffly complained from the passenger seat. “I got blood on my tie.”  
“Gee.” Luther deadpanned. “How will you survive?”  
Five ignored the jibe. “It was my favorite. Now it’s got carney blood all over it.” He shot a look back to Klaus and Ben. “No offence.” He looked back down at the tie and muttered, almost to himself, “Delores gave me this tie.”

“Ohhh,” Klaus exclaimed. “Who’s Delores?”  
“She’s, uh…” Luther shot a glance at Five who was suddenly very interested in the passing scenery. “Five’s girlfriend.”  
Before Five could correct him, Klaus busted in. “You don’t hear the name Delores that much these days. Does she get confused with the model? Not that it would be a bad thing…Delores is my favorite model. She is amaaaaazing.”  
“Yeah, that’s her.” Luther offhandedly spoke from the driver’s seat.  
“WHAT?!” Klaus leaned forward, putting his hand on Five’s seat. “Delores. Like, Vintage, Pin-up girl, I’m too sexy for a last name Delores?...You. Are dating. Her?”  
“Well I was.” Five seethed. “She dumped me yesterday.”  
“So, call her!”  
“And say what exactly?”  
“Who gives a shit what you say? ‘Sorry.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘You are the most amazing creature to ever walk God’s green earth.’ What matters is that you grovel, and you do it soon before her fine ass finds someone else.”

Five had turned in his seat at the outburst and was simply staring at Klaus. During the past 15 years he and his siblings had become a force. There wasn’t anyone who would dare cross them, and he had rarely met anyone who would even take the chance at raising their voice to them. But here was this cocky, skinny bastard telling him…Number Five…one of the most feared assassins in the business…what a dumbass he was being. And worst of all…he was right.

Five turned back to the front and fished his cell phone out of his pocket. He really wanted to wait until he had more privacy, but Klaus was right. She would find someone else, so there was no time like the present. He looked at his phone which he had set on silent as he did for all missions and saw that he had 12 missed calls from the lady in question. “SHIT!” He dialed the number and waited.

“Hey champ!” A man’s voice answered Delores’ phone and it made Five’s blood boil.  
“Dad.” Luther nearly spoke but stopped at Five’s hand signaling everyone to stay quiet as he put the phone on speaker. “Where is Delores?”  
Leonard spoke with the ease of a used car salesman. “She’s…indisposed right now.” Five felt the car speed up as they all listened with bated breath to the man on the other end of the phone. “You boys come home now. Your mother and I want to talk to you about what you’ve done. Then we can talk about maybe letting your girlfriend go.”

“What we’ve done?” Five tried to sound calm even though every fiber of his being wanted to tear the man limb from limb. “We completed the mission, just like she asked.”  
“Just like she asked?” Leonard’s voice dripped with condescension and Luther gritted his teeth as they listened. “I believe her instructions were to ‘burn the place to the ground…leave NO witnesses.” Five and Luther exchanged worried glances. “If I’m not mistaken, you have a couple of witnesses in the back seat of your car as we speak. Hello gentlemen!”

Five quickly spun a story in his head, hoping it sounded plausible enough to buy them some time. “No, they aren’t exactly witnesses. They were being held hostage by these two assholes. It was like a weird labor camp. We’re going to drop them off in the next town and they aren’t going to say a thing.”  
“No. You are going to bring them here. I’m sure your mother would love to meet some more of Reginald Hargreeves’ freaks. I for one can’t wait to see what these two can do.”  
Ben muttered from the back seat, “I can’t wait to show you.”

Klaus leaned forward and before Five could stop him he shouted into the phone. “We want to talk to Delores.” Five put his hand over the phone and glared at him. “Proof of life…isn’t that what you’re supposed to ask for?”  
Five was really starting to hate how often Klaus was correct. He took his hand off the phone and spoke. “Yeah, how do I know you didn’t already kill her?”  
“One sec.” They heard some shuffling and Leonard barking orders at someone before a timid voice came over the line. “Five?”  
“Are you ok?”  
“Yeah. Just do what they say, ok?”  
Five’s eyes narrowed as his brain processed what he was hearing. “Amanda?”  
The voice suddenly rushed to get as much out as possible. “She got away! They don’t have her, she…” There was a shot and then nothing. The whole car went quiet and all eyes except Luther’s were on the phone when Leonard came back on.   
“Damn. I was really hoping they sounded enough alike to fool you. Oh well, plan B.”  
“What’s plan B?”  
“Well, if I told you, you’d have a chance to stop it. So long boys.” The call ended and Five let the phone fall into his lap.

Klaus was the first to speak. “I never thought I’d actually miss Reginald Hargreeves but our current Dads suuuuck!” He sat back and Five’s phone rang once again. Throwing the speaker on, he let his anger flow out. “Listen ass-hole. We’re on our way back, what more do you fucking want?”  
There was a short pause. “Five?”  
“Delores?” Five sat up straight in his seat. “Where are you?”  
She sounded scared. “Um. I’m on a payphone at that sketchy donut place by your apartment.” She took in a shaky breath. “You know, the one that you won’t go to because you say you need a tetanus shot to sit in one of the booths?”  
“Are you hurt?”  
“No. but Five…Oh my God Amanda…I left her there.”  
“Ok listen to me. I need you to do exactly as I say, can you do that for me baby?”  
“Yes. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean…”  
“Forget all that. That place is 24 hours, right?”  
“Um…yeah.”  
“Ok good. I need you to lock yourself in the lady’s bathroom and wait. I’m sending someone to come get you.”  
“You’re not coming?”  
“I can’t sweetheart.” He tried his best to stay calm for her. “I’m too far away, I need to make sure you’re safe now. Go into the bathroom. Lock yourself in. Understand?”  
“Yeah. Five?”  
“What is it?”  
“I don’t like Cha Cha.”  
“I’m not sending Cha Cha.” he looked over at Luther, realizing that the only person he trusted was sitting in the car with him. “I’m going to call someone, you don’t know him but…” Five thought for a moment and forgetting there were extra listeners in the car who he didn’t share everything with, gave her further instructions. “You wait. You do not open the door until someone comes and tells you your safe word…understand?”  
“Yes.”  
“Good girl, now go.”  
“Five?”  
“Yes.”  
“I love you.”  
Five’s eyes shut, and he let out a breath. “I love you too.”

He hung up the phone and immediately started dialing the next number. Klaus leaned forward again and grinned. “Safe word huh?”  
Five’s glare forced Klaus to slink back into his seat, gaining a disappointed head shake from Ben.  
This call was not on speaker but everyone in the car knew it was one of the hardest calls Five had ever had to make.

“Yes, I need to speak to Detective Patch please…Diego.” There was a pause and then, “Detective Patch?...I don’t have a lot of time to explain and you are probably going to think I’m crazy but, I need your help and you are the only one I can trust right now…Because a long time ago, we use to be family…My name is Number Five and I’m hoping that your memories of being Number Two are good enough to do me a favor. If not, I hope you being a police officer will suffice…My girlfriend was chased out of her condo by some very bad people who want me and Number One dead…she’s at a diner on 27th called Griddy’s…she’s holed up in the ladies room and waiting for you to come get her…Yes…Her name is Delores…when you get there, tell her the word ‘mannequin’ and she’ll know I sent you…Number Two?...I owe you.”

~~~~~~

Diego hung up the phone and sat back in his chair, staring at the screen saver on his laptop. He decided that best case scenario, this was just a stupid prank that someone put way too much effort into, worst case, he was about to get himself caught up in some seriously dangerous shit. Either way, he was a cop and he knew he would feel like a shit bag if he didn’t at least check it out.

He stood up and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair. He threw it on and stopped at his sister, Eudora’s desk on the way out. “Hey, I need some backup…you in?”  
She looked up from a file she was studying. “Where’s Carmichael?”  
“He left for the day; this is personal.”  
Eudora knew that she was the more responsible of the two. Diego had more reprimands for ‘going rogue’ or ‘disrespecting authority’ then anyone else in the precinct. The fact of the matter was, he was a good cop and he got results. She did know, however, that if he was asking her to do something ‘off the books’ that it was serious as he knew she didn’t like to break the rules so she stood up and grabbed her coat. “Lead the way.”

He tried to fill her in as best he could on the way to the diner. He explained about the phone call from someone claiming to be Five, how his girlfriend had been chased out of her condo by some pretty nasty characters and was now locked in the lady’s room at some donut shop and he was to go get her and keep her safe until Five came back to town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh. Five and Delores have a safe word...use your imaginations...Klaus sure is.


	6. Plan B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison deals with the tabloids, Five is reunited with Delores, everyone meets the Patch siblings, and Five figures out what Mom's plan is.

Allison Baker frowned as she read a particularly nasty tweet from someone calling themselves BakerHater1297. She promised her agent that she would stop feeding the trolls so she shoved a thought into the back of her mind and blocked them, wondering if there really were 1296 more people who hated her, or maybe they just hated bread.

She slipped her phone back into her pocket just in time for said agent to walk into his office. “Darling!” She stood and they kissed each other’s cheek, European style before sitting back down. He grabbed a notebook from his drawer and smiled at her before speaking. “Good news on the Hallmark front…”  
“No!”  
“Yup…you are in! You are the newest addition to the Hallmark family. First a librarian accused of murder in an Aurora Teagarden mystery, next…who knows? Maybe a Christmas movie!”  
“Oh Patrick, you are the best!”  
Her smile dropped slightly at the grimace that he tried to hide but failed. “What?”  
“It’s not all good news today.”  
Allison slumped down in her seat and awaited the worst.

Patrick pulled another paper out of his desk, this one a tabloid. He placed it in front of her and as she leaned over to look at it, she winced. There was a photo of her and a tall man in a suit leaving a bar, holding hands. The headline read; “Who is Allison Baker’s Mystery Man?”  
“I’m sorry Patrick.”  
He shook his head. “If you would just tell me who this guy is that you are having clandestine meetings with at shady bars and off the beaten path restaurants…it would really help me with damage control.”  
“He’s just…” she thought about their relationship and realized that even they hadn’t defined it yet. “He’s a friend.”  
“A friend who you are seen on page 3 kissing right on the mouth.”  
“WHAT?!?!” She grabbed the paper and turned to the page, sure enough there she was, standing in front of a waiting cab, planting a kiss right on his lips. “It was a peck goodbye. It lasted half a second!”  
“Allie…” Patrick gave her the look that her Mom gave when she was trying to be understanding and lay down the law at the same time. “Who is he?”

Before she could answer, the door to his office was kicked open by a large man dressed much like Allison’s mystery man. He was stockier though and had a beard. He was followed into the office by a woman, dressed in a female cut of the same suit with a bob haircut and a mean look on her face. Patrick’s poor secretary was lying on the floor behind them, hopefully, thought Allison, only knocked out.

“Allison Baker,” the woman barked, “You’re coming with us.”  
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Patrick stood and rounded his desk just to be met with the woman throwing a hard punch to his midsection, causing him to double over and fall to the ground.   
“Patrick!” Allison tried to run to him but was scooped up by the large man in a sort of bear hug from behind and lifted off the ground. A feat in and of itself as Allison was quite tall. She struggled to get out of his grasp and tried to shout, “I heard a rumor…” The woman slapped her across the mouth…hard. When she turned her face back to try again, the woman was ready. She pressed a strip of duct tape across her mouth and smiled. “There, that’s better. Wouldn’t want us to do anything you’d regret.” She looked at the man, an almost annoyed look on her face. “Come on, I’m getting hangry.”

Allison struggled the whole way down the stairs with her now taped up legs and arms, only to be whisked out a back door and into a waiting car. More specifically, a waiting truck. The door shut over her head and she felt the car lower as her two captors climbed in and the car sped away from the building.

~~~~~~

Luther turned the car into a small motel parking lot on the edge of the city. The one light above the lot was flickering on and off as they pulled in front of door 5. “That’s appropriate,” Klaus remarked, gaining an eye roll from Luther and a pity smile from Ben. There was no reaction from Five, as he was already out of the car and teleporting to the door. The others followed him to the room and waited. 

He had his ear to the door, trying to gauge the safety of entering when a woman walked up behind the group carrying an ice bucket and three sodas. “You Five?”  
He spun around, instinctively throwing his hand into his jacket and putting his hand on his sidearm, knowing that Luther was doing the same. The woman reacted nearly as fast, dropping her things and swiftly placing a hand on her own gun. “Easy.” She pulled her hand away and put both up in surrender mode. “I’m Eudora. I’m Diego’s sister.”  
“Sister?” Klaus looked back and forth between the three armed people and whispered, “Seven?”

Luther took his hand out of his jacket, motioning for Five to do the same. “No, idiot. The family who adopted him. They had a girl remember?”  
“Ah.” He bent down and picked up the bucket, now empty and two of the sodas. “Nice to meet you Eudora. I’m not sure where the Pepsi went but, I’m Klaus.” He held out his hand for her to shake. Once she did, he pointed to the others in turn. “This is Ben, Luther and Little Number Five.”  
“Cut the crap.” Five snapped at Klaus before addressing Eudora. “Delores?”  
“She’s inside.” Eudora pushed herself to the front of the group so she could open the door. 

When the door opened, she stepped out of the way and he bolted in after her. “Dee?”  
“Five!” Delores got up from the bed and he jumped to the spot right in front of her. In lieu of a greeting, he put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. As she deepened the kiss, he let his hands fall down her back and she threw her arms around his neck, holding him tight as if the moment she let go, he would disappear.

“You’re welcome.” Diego growled out from the bathroom door and Five finally broke the kiss to look at his long-lost brother. “Thank you, Two.”  
“No problem. It’s our job to help people. Besides, Delores said she’d sign an autograph for our Dad, he’s a fan.” 

Five looked down at Delores and took her in for the first time. “What are you wearing?!” He rushed to take off his coat and throw it around her.   
“My robe! These ass holes came to my place at 9 pm!”  
Five crooked his finger in the collar of the thigh length robe and peeked down inside. Finding nothing, he pulled the coat shut around her and she chuckled. He turned to look at Diego. “You could have got her something to wear.” Diego just shrugged as Delores pulled Five’s face back to hers. “I always sleep naked. You never complained before.”  
“Yeah, that was before there was a room full my brothers to gawk at you.”  
Klaus piped in. “Not gawking, but I am in awe of your legs…where exactly do they stop?”  
Delores smiled. “I like that one.”

Five sighed in frustration as he plopped down on the bed and threw his arm over his eyes. Luther shook his head and ignored the act that he had seen thousands of times over the years. “Seriously, Two…we owe you.”  
“It’s Diego.” He shook Luther’s hand.   
“Luther.” He nodded his head toward Five. “He kept Five, said he was already used to it, why learn a new one?” He stepped aside so Diego could see their other companions and was about to speak when Diego said, “Four and Six.”  
“Ben.” He walked over to Diego’s outstretched hand but gently swatted it away to go in for a hug. “And the guy who can’t stop staring at Delores is Klaus.”  
Klaus answered as if in a trance. “It’s not so much staring at her, but wondering how a goddess ended up with,” he pointed at Five, “that.” Five did not take his arm off his eyes, he simply raised the other one and aimed his middle finger at Klaus.

“Ok.” Eudora started. “Now that we got all the niceties out of the way, you mind telling us what the hell is going on? And why the two of you are packing? I’ve got a hunch that you don’t have badges of any kind.”  
Luther looked over at his twin. “Five, you better take this. You’re better at explaining shit and keeping it short than I am.”  
“Fine!” He sat back up and sidled up next to Delores who had sat on the bed next to him. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight next to him before continuing. 

“Luther and I got adopted by Kate and Leonard Peabody. They already had two adopted kids, Hazel and Cha Cha.” He held up the hand not around Delores to silence the questions. “We got to pick out names and we were 10. Turns out Kate didn’t really want kids. She wanted…employees. She’s the head of a pretty large criminal organization that spans the tri state area called The Commission. People know her as ‘The Handler.’” He saw Diego and Eudora straighten up at the mention of the name. “We just call her Mom.”

“Over the years, her and Dad trained us to be the perfect little soldiers. Alternating from being cruelly efficient and sugary sweet. I think there was a tiny part of her cold heart that actually wanted children, hence why we call her Mom. The four of have become the best over the years. Hazel and Cha Cha are good but with our powers, Luther and I are the best.” He saw his brother’s head fall at the words but didn’t have time to deal with it right now. “She sent us on a mission to make an example out of some guy who owed her money.” He nodded toward Klaus and Ben, “their ‘father.’ When we got there, we saw the posters and realized that we had to get them out of there before we took care of the place. One the way back, Dad called saying he had Delores but I called his bluff, so he said it was on to plan B. That’s when I called you to go get Delores.” 

Delores lifted her head off his shoulder. “Amanda?” Five’s eyes softened, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, Delores started sobbing into his shirt and he held her as Diego started talking. “What’s Plan B?”  
“We don’t know,” Luther answered. “All we know is that Mom is pissed at us for ‘leaving witnesses.’”

“Wait a minute.” Eudora stepped closer to Five. “Didn’t you say that your Dad called on your way from getting Klaus and Ben?”  
“Yeah. So?”  
“How the hell did they know you had witnesses already?”  
Five thought about the timeline and realized that she made a lot of sense. “This wasn’t about punishment. She wants something.”  
Luther looked confused. “When have we ever said ‘no’ to her. If she wanted something…she would just tell us.”  
“Unless it’s something we wouldn’t willingly give, and she already knew that.” 

Five let go of Delores and stood up. He started pacing and mumbling, half to himself, half to the room. “She targeted Delores so it’s something I would have to be forced to give up…Dad knew about 4 and 6, so it could involve Luther too…No matter how far removed we are from each other, we still have that bonding from our childhood…Shit.”  
“What?” Luther had seen what he called the ‘A-ha’ look many times, he knew Five had something.   
“Dad said that Mom wanted to meet more of Reginald Hargreeves’ freaks and that he couldn’t wait to see what Klaus and Ben could do.” He looked at the people in the room all waiting for his conclusion. “She wants to collect us.”


	7. Five's Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five makes a plan to find Seven, Take out Mom, rescue Allison, and get Delores some damn pants!

“Collect us?” Diego asked. “What for?”  
“Think about it. If having mercenaries with super strength and teleportation abilities are good…imagine one who can aim thrown objects with his mind, or talk to the dead, or…you know…is Ben.” Five let that thought sink in for all his companions before finally addressing one of the many elephants in the room. “We need to find Three and Seven before Mom does.”

“Well, we all know where Three is.” Diego scoffed. “But good luck getting anywhere near her. Her security is pretty good after being on that soap opera last year.”  
Luther stood up straight from his spot leaning against the wall. He grabbed his cell and started scrolling the contacts. “I’ll call her.”  
Five looked at his brother but Luther couldn’t bring his eyes to meet Five’s. He had been keeping something from him and this was something they never did. He brought the phone to his ear and after a moment, spoke to a voice mail. “Hey Allie, it’s me. Call me as soon as you get this…it’s important.”

The whole room was now staring, and Luther knew that he would have to explain himself. Mostly to Five. He finally looked up to see his twin staring at him with a look that could only be described as ‘betrayal.’ He took a deep breath and spilled. “Allison and I have been seeing each other for about a year.”  
“WHAT!?!?” Was the general consensus, coming from Klaus, Ben, Diego, and Delores. Eudora stayed quiet and Five just kept looking at him.   
“I didn’t tell anyone because she asked me not to. Our picture got taken a few months back, just sitting on a bench together and people have been trying to find out who I am ever since. We try to keep a low profile, so it won’t affect her career.”

Five kept staring at him. “Yeah, God forbid anything hurt Allison Baker’s career.”  
“Five.”  
“Don’t.” He put a hand up to stop Luther and then brought it to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How about Seven…is anyone dating her?” The room stayed silent. Klaus shook his head and looked at Ben, trying to convey how uncomfortable he was with just a look. Delores stood up and walked over to Five. Leaning in, she started to whisper something to him, and he nodded in response.   
Luther tried again, “Five.”

Before Five could answer, there was a loud, forceful knock at the door. Diego, Eudora, Luther and Five all reached for their side arms as the others shifted away from the sound toward the other end of the room. “Who is it?” Eudora called out.  
“We know you’re in there!” A woman’s voice called out, sounding very annoyed. “She’s got a tracker on your car, you morons!”  
Luther and Five looked at each other and said, in unison, “Cha Cha.”

Luther walked over to the door and as he reached for the handle, Diego grabbed his arm. “Can we trust her?”  
“Yeah, she won’t kill us before telling us why.”  
Five rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she’s sweet like that.”  
Diego let go and Luther turned the handle, pulling the door open and letting the pair of assassins in. Cha Cha strolled past him and tossed the tracker at him. It had been smashed; Luther figured that was a good sign. “Thanks.”  
“Don’t mention it bro.” Hazel stepped up next to Luther. “You guys good?”  
“Yeah. Confused, but good.”

Cha Cha stopped mere feet from Five and Delores, who was now nuzzled up next to Five with her arm around his waist. She looked the smaller woman up and down before chuckling, “Nice outfit.”  
“Knock it off.” Five warned and Cha Cha just put her hands up as a sort of surrender before plopping down on the desk chair.  
Hazel ignored them both and addressed Luther. “Ok, what’s the plan?”  
“The plan…” Diego cut in. “Is to find out if we can trust the two of you.”  
“Yeah,” Ben added, “how do we know that you aren’t here to take us all in?”  
“Because,” Five answered. “If they were here to take any of us in, they wouldn’t have come straight to the door. They would have given us a reason to split up, killed Eudora and Delores, and drugged or knocked out the rest of us. They would have also brought reinforcements, because I can tell you from experience…carrying Luther’s passed out ass is a BITCH by yourself.” Cha Cha put one finger on her nose and pointed the other at Five.

“The plan is to find Allison and Seven before Mom does and…” Luther stopped when he saw Hazel’s face scrunch up at the mention of Allison. “What?”  
“Mom may already have Allison.”  
“What do you mean…may?”  
“Does.”  
“How?”  
“Uh, boy…how do I put this?”   
Cha Cha groaned, “Mom had us snatch her up.”  
“What?” Luther made a move toward Cha Cha and the woman hopped to her feet, taking a defensive stance. “Settle down big guy…we didn’t know!” Five stepped in between the two to slow Luther down as Cha Cha continued. “She just said grab her. We figured she owed a lot of money or she was going to be ransom because she’s so famous. We didn’t know she was your girl until we saw you kissing in that picture.”  
“What picture?” Luther growled.  
“This one.” Klaus called out from behind the scuffle as he scrolled on his cell. “You two look real cozy!” Luther rushed over and grabbed his phone. “Rude.”  
“Shit.”  
Klaus put his hand on Luther’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be ok…we’ll get her back.”

Hazel tried to defuse the situation. “We found out that Allison was your number Three and that Dad tried to take Delores. When we were sent to come get you, we had to make a choice, Mom or you guys.” He looked around the room, settling on Luther. “You guys won.”  
“That doesn’t give us much time.” Luther told Hazel. “Once they figure you aren’t coming back, they are going to come straight here. We need to move.” He turned his attention to his now seething twin. “Five?”  
“I’m gonna kill that bitch.” He was breathing slightly heavier and his lip was curled into a sort of half snarl. Luther had seen that look before, he was angry, and an angry Five, was a useless Five.

Cha Cha seemed to have the same idea as Luther. She stepped up to him and Delores took it as her cue to move. Cha Cha put her hands on her brother’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Hey! You are not allowed to get pissed. You are the brains…you are the guy who gets us out of shit when our dumb asses rush in head first based on hunches. You need to stop feeling…and start thinking.”  
Five blinked a few times as he took in what she said. “You’re right.” She let go and backed off as he started to pace again. The room stayed silent to give him room to think. He walked back and forth as the sun was starting to shine in through the curtain before stopping and addressing the room.

“Luther, take Klaus and go find that woman who helped us when Hargreeves died…Marcy something. Check with the city, she was a social worker, maybe they have an address or a number. If anyone knows where Seven went, she will.” Luther nodded. “Diego, Eudora, Motels aren’t safe. Mom knows all our tricks, we’re gonna have to use yours. Is there a safe house we can move to? Maybe a place for witnesses?”  
“Sure.” Diego nodded. “We can get a place. But we can’t just take it…we’re gonna need a reason.”  
“Say you have witnesses that are going to help take down the Commission. I mean, what’s left of it anyway.”   
“We can make that work.”  
“Hazel, Ben, drive Delores around until you get word from Diego about the safe house. Stay. Mobile. Once you get it, take her straight there and wait for the rest of us to regroup…hopefully with Seven.”  
“What are we going to do?” Cha Cha asked from her chair.  
“We are going to go back to Dee’s place and see if they left us anything to go on. And we are going to get her some damn clothes.”

Movement was instantaneous. Each group was given a clear leader and they knew what to do. As they piled into cars and split into four different directions, Five watched as Cha Cha fired up her mustang before asking, “We’re gonna win, right?”  
“You got a plan beyond, ‘meet somewhere else?’”  
“Yes, but…some people aren’t going to like it.”  
“Then yes. We’re gonna win.” She pulled out of the lot and headed toward downtown and Five looked out the window and sighed.


	8. Number Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Number Seven joins the fray and she may be more helpful then anyone expects.

Luther and Klaus walked into the main waiting room of social services and were met with a halfhearted “can I help you?” coming from behind a magazine.   
“Yes.” Luther approached the desk while Klaus started leafing through pamphlets about adoption, social security benefits, and WICC. “We are looking for someone. Someone who works here…or used to.”  
The woman never looked up from her magazine as she picked up the phone and dialed an extension. “Hey Nate, some guys are here to find someone.” She hung up the phone and flipped the page. “Nate will be right out.”

Luther’s eyes widened and he shook his head slightly as Klaus stepped up behind him. “Thanks.” The door to the back opened and a thin, elderly man dressed in khakis and a polo shirt stepped out. “Can I help you gentlemen?”  
“I hope so.” Luther went and shook the man’s hand. “My name is Luther Peabody, and this is my brother Klaus. We were both adopted when we were ten and…”  
“I’m sorry sir, but adoption records are often sealed. I can get you some paperwork to fill out…”  
“No, you don’t understand. We are looking for the lady who helped us get adopted. Her name is Marcy and we would like to say thank you.”

The man’s face fell, and Luther knew that bad news was coming. “You boys are about what? 25?” Luther and Klaus nodded. “Then you’re probably looking for Marcy Bradford. We worked together out of this very office for many years.”  
“I take it from your tone, she’s not around anymore.”  
“She’s…alive, but she’s out at Bramhurst. You see, she was diagnosed with dementia a few years ago. It’s heartbreaking, really. Someone who cared so much for others, especially kids like yourself, and now she barely knows her own friends and family. Oh sure, there are good days, sometimes she even knows my name but others…nothing.”  
Luther shook the man’s hand, “Well, thanks anyway sir. It was worth a try.”  
“Good luck guys.”

Klaus and Luther exited the building and stopped by the car. “Now what do we do?” Klaus asked, frustration dripping from his voice.  
“We go to Bramhurst. Try to see her.”  
“We can’t just walk into a nursing home and say, ‘hey, there is a woman here that we haven’t seen in 15 years, we aren’t related or anything but we’d like to try to catch her on one of her coherent days to see if she knows what happened to our long lost sister.”  
“Exactly.”  
“How are you so confident?”  
“I grew up with Five and Cha Cha. If I wasn’t confident, they would have eaten me alive.”

~~~

Bramhurst was a massive facility that Klaus commented looked like Arkham Asylum. As the men entered the building, they were greeted by a more jovial receptionist than at social services. “Good morning gentlemen! How can I help you?”  
“We’re here to see Marcy Bradford.” Luther took the lead.  
“And how do you know Miss Bradford?”  
“She was our case worker when we got adopted as kids. We were hoping to ask her a few questions if she’s up to it.”  
“Well, Miss Bradford is terribly ill. I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”  
“Please ma’am,” Klaus broke in. “Just 5 minutes…we’re trying to find our sister.”  
The woman paused to think on the situation a moment before standing and motioning for Luther and Klaus toward the waiting room chairs. “Have a seat, I’ll be right back.”

Luther and Klaus sat and waited. When the woman came back, she was followed by a young woman about their age. She was small with long brown hair and Luther thought that she looked like a strong breeze would knock her over. The receptionist walked up and started introductions. “Mr.…?”  
“Peabody.” Luther pointed to himself and then to Klaus, “and Groves.”  
Well, Mr. Peabody, Mr. Groves. This is Miss Bradford.”   
Klaus took in the young woman’s features. “You look a lot younger than I expected.”  
She smiled. “No, I’m Marcy’s Daughter. I hear you are looking for someone?”  
“Yeah, our sister. Marcy helped us out when we were kids and we thought…”  
“Well, she’s helped a lot of kids but she’s having a good day. It can’t hurt to ask.”

She smiled at them again and motioned for them to follow her into a large sitting room where residents were engaged in varied activities such as card games, puzzles, or just watching tv. Luther and Klaus followed her to a small table in the corner where Marcy sat. She was older but had the same kind look on her face as when they were kids. “Mom?” Marcy looked up and grinned. “Hi honey! Who are your friends?”  
“This is Mr. Peabody and Mr. Groves. They have some questions for you about a girl you helped a while ago. Are you up for it?”  
“Oh of course, I’ll try. My mind isn’t what it used to be but…I’ll try.”

“Well,” Luther started. “Our case was a bit strange, so maybe it will help. About 15 years ago, a man died. He left behind 7 kids and you helped to get each of them adopted. We are two of those kids.” Luther heard Marcy’s daughter make a small noise but continued. “Recent events have caused the rest of us to reunite and we were wondering if you knew what happened to that last girl.”  
“Oh my. That sounds awful, to have to split up like that.” Her smile turned into a frown as Luther saw her eyes almost glaze over as she looked at her daughter. “Who are your friends dear?”

Defeated, Luther stood up and addressed Marcy’s daughter. “Sorry for wasting your time.” He turned to leave but was stopped by a small hand on his arm.   
“Wait.” He looked at the woman who had tears welling up in her eyes. “Number One?”  
Luther took in a sharp breath. “Seven.”  
“Oh my God!”   
She threw herself into his arms and as they hugged, Klaus piped in from behind them. “Oh, I guess no hugs for Number 4 huh?” She turned to him and laughed a bit before letting him envelope her in a tight embrace.

Pulling away from Klaus, she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I thought I’d never see any of you again!”  
“Same here sister,” Klaus was fighting tears as well. “So, you’ve been with Marcy this whole time?”  
“Yeah. She felt awful that after 2 left, no one wanted to adopt me. It’s hard finding a home for a 10-year-old, most people want babies. After about a month, she came in and asked if I wanted to come live with her. I accepted and well…here I am.”  
“And what do we call you? Or did Marcy stick with Seven?”  
“Vanya.”  
“Well, I’m Klaus and this hulk of a man is Luther.”

Luther’s phone buzzed and after looking at it he addressed his siblings. “I got the address to the safe house. We should go.”  
“Safe house?” Vanya asked, confusion in her voice.  
Luther sighed. “There are some bad people who are going to come looking for you. We have a place for you to lie low until we can take care of it.”  
“Bad people? Like who? Why?”  
“Uh…” Luther looked down at his feet. “My Mom. She seems to want to collect us. Why I don’t know, but she doesn’t seem to care who has powers and who doesn’t…so she may come after you too.”  
“But I…” Vanya tried to explain but was cut off by Klaus.  
“Just come with us. We can explain everything when we get somewhere safe and can hear Five’s plan.”  
“Five?” Her face lit up at the mention of her childhood best friend. “He’s ok?”  
“Well, if cocky and a little douchey is ‘ok’ then…yeah, he’s great!” Klaus winked.

The entire ride to the safe house was Klaus filling Vanya in on the past few day’s events. He told of his and Ben’s unfortunate life up until now, and how Five and Luther swooped in like ‘knights in shining Armani’ to save them. He talked about how Cha Cha and Hazel were on their side and who Diego and Eudora were. Most of the ride was him talking about how shocked he was that Five was dating ‘THE Delores.’ When Vanya said she didn’t know who Delores was, Klaus spent another 10 minutes telling her how wrong she was by not worshiping the woman as he did.

“What about Allison?” Vanya had been following her career from her time as a child actor until now. She admired her sister from a far knowing that she may never get to meet her but cared about her none the less.  
“Mom’s got her.” Luther’s tone was angry and at Vanya’s gasp Klaus explained that Five had a plan and that they were all going to live happily ever after. His words were confident, but his eyes told a different story.

When they arrived at the safe house, Luther lead the way up the stairs to a dingy looking apartment. He knocked and it was opened by Diego who took one look at Vanya and scooped her up into a hug. “They found you!”  
“They found me.” Vanya waited to be put down and looked at him. He was older and much more worn but looking into his eyes she still saw Number Two’s soft interior behind his hardened mask.  
“Hey there Seven.” Vanya turned around and immediately ran into Ben’s arms. They hugged for a bit before finally breaking away for her to say, “It’s Vanya.”  
“Vanya, that’s pretty.”  
“Thanks.”

Vanya was surveying the room and other than her siblings she saw a very large man sitting on the bed munching on a donut and a stunning woman wearing nothing but a very short silk robe. The woman walked over to Vanya and offered her hand. “I’m Delores. I’ve heard so much about you.”  
“You have?”  
“Five talks about his childhood best friend an awful lot.”

“That’s because he misses her.”  
The room went silent as Vanya turned to the voice coming from the door to the apartment. There stood Five, older but the same mischievous smirk plastered on his face. He strolled over and stopped in front of Vanya. He reached around her to hand a bundle of clothes to Delores, “would you put these on please?” Before he could say anything more, Vanya jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down as he returned the hug.

“I hate to break up this love fest,” Cha Cha interrupted. “But what the hell are we going to do about Mom?”  
Five let go of Vanya before looking at Delores who hadn’t moved. “Seriously, please put some clothes on.” Delores rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom to change.  
“Thank you!” He called after her and then turned back to the group. 

“Alright here’s the plan. Luther, Diego, Ben, you guys head to the house. I’m betting that Dad has Allison there. Mom wouldn’t keep her close but would want her watched somewhere outside of the city.” The brothers nodded.   
“Five?” Vanya tried to get his attention, but he simply barreled on with his plan.   
“Eudora, I need you to stay here with Delores, Seven and Klaus. Until this is over, they aren’t safe, and I need someone here I can trust to protect them.”  
“Five?” Vanya tried again to cut in, but he ignored her.   
“Hazel, Cha Cha, you guys take me back to Mom. Tell her Luther got away or better yet, died trying. This will be the best way to get someone alone with her. She’ll try to salvage our relationship. She does not want to lose a soldier and I’ll play into that to get her to trust me. Then…I’ll take care of her.”  
“FIVE!” Vanya finally got through.  
“What?”  
“I think I should go with you.”  
“Seven. This is not going to be safe. You and Delores don’t have powers and Klaus’ isn’t exactly combat ready, so you need to stay here.”  
“You don’t understand.”

“Seven please…” He didn’t get to finish as he was distracted by the fact that he was slowly raising up above the ground and floating in midair. “What the hell?”  
“I’m trying to tell you…” Vanya said. “I have powers.”  
“Holy shit.” Diego muttered from the back of the room.  
“Mom didn’t like the idea of a small child taking as much medication as I did so she had me stop seeing Dr Pogo. Once I was off it for good, I started noticing things. I felt things more deeply and I could hear sounds from nearly a mile away. We started working on controlling them and well…powers.”  
“Um.” Five tried to hide the slight tremble in his voice. “Can you let me down?”  
“Oh sorry!” He was slowly lowered back to the floor. “And it’s not just parlor tricks either. I think I can really be of assistance.”  
Five stared at her and made a decision. “Alright, Eudora. You stay with Delores and Klaus. Vanya, you’re with me.”


	9. Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two teams meet Dad and Mom and all hell breaks loose. (and by all hell, I do mean the Bentacles).

Luther turned off the main road onto a long winding driveway that he had driven more times than he could count. “This is it.” He slowed at they approached the house that he grew up in, taking in the quaint features and thinking that if he didn’t know what went on inside these walls, it would look like a great place for a kid to have a happy childhood. As the three men piled out of the car, the door to the house opened, and a man sauntered out onto the front porch. “That’s Dad.” 

Ben looked at the bookish man in his early 50s and commented, “He doesn’t look too scary.”   
“Don’t let that fool you, the man’s temper is second to none.”   
“Luther!” Leonard called out in his best ‘welcoming’ voice. “It’s good you decided to come home. Who are your friends? Brothers…I hope.”  
“Where’s Allison?”  
“Tsk tsk tsk. I don’t think you’re in a position to be asking the questions. Where is Five?”  
Luther gritted his teeth and tried his best to look defeated. He was by far the best actor of all his siblings but he needed to sell this, for Five. “Hazel and Cha Cha got him. They’re taking him to Mom.”  
A smile crept onto Leonard’s face and Ben couldn’t help but think of a snake slithering up to it’s prey. “Good. He has some explaining to do. As do you. Come inside and we’ll talk.” Luther, Diego, and Ben started toward the house. “Ah ah ah! Leave all your weapons in the car.”

Luther pulled his side arm and tossed it into the front seat. Diego followed with his piece and the harness carrying his knives. When Ben made no move to join them, Leonard tilted his head. “No weapons? You must think whatever power you have is enough. Well, it better be good.” He stood back and allowed the three men to enter the house and followed them in, closing the door behind him.

~~~

“OW!” Five’s head snapped back at the force of the punch, turning to the side to spit a bit of blood onto the dirt at his feet. “You could have waited until I was ready!”  
“If you were ready, you would have blocked it.” Cha Cha countered as Vanya looked on in horror at the display. “Now, stand still.” She balled up her fists for another shot and Five closed his eyes in anticipation. Cha Cha hauled back and clocked him right on the jaw, causing him to curse and spit some more blood as he massaged his aching face.   
“Alright, alright, that’s good.”  
“Are you sure? I think one more…”  
Five balled up and took a fighting stance. “It needs to look like you knocked me out…not killed me.”  
“Fine.”

Vanya shook her head as Five came over in time to see Hazel secure her in a set of handcuffs. “Ok, so you know what to do?”  
“Yes. We get to your Mom’s office, you surprise her by ‘waking up,’ you…uh…”  
“Kill her.”  
“Yeah. And if anything goes wrong, I use my powers to help.”  
“Right, but not before. I should be able to handle it myself and I’d like to avoid you having a death on your conscience if I can.”

Hazel grabbed a second pair of cuffs and started putting them on Five. “Then we come in with the calvary and scoop up as many guys as we can to help make the case for your Detectives.”  
“This sucks.”  
“Cha Cha…”  
“What? We’re good at being bad guys. Now we’re gonna just what? Turn state’s evidence and go live in the suburbs in some witness protection bull shit?”  
“No.” Five said, checking his cuffs and pocketing the key that Hazel handed him. “You think there’s a gangster on earth who is going to go after any of the Peabody kids for testifying? First off, they are scared shitless of us. Second, once The Commission is no more, there will be more room for the rest of them so…win win!”  
“Ok, then what?”  
“I don’t know. We become bail bondsman or something. Utilize our special skills for the right side of the law for a change.”  
Cha Cha furrowed her brow and simple shook her head as she stalked to the car and got in the drivers seat in a huff.

~~~

Ben couldn’t sit still. His leg was bouncing as he took in his surroundings. Luther and Diego were sitting on chairs on either side of him and they all watched as Leonard paced back and forth, constantly checking his cell phone. “Um. Excuse me?” Leonard stopped pacing to look at him. “Are you going to kill us or what?”  
“Patience is a virtue you know.” Leonard checked the cell again. “You’ll get to die, don’t worry.”

“Dad?”   
“Yes Luther?”  
“Can I at least see Allison before?” Luther’s eyes never left Leonard’s. “You thought of me as your son once…at least give me that.”  
Leonard broke eye contact and shifted where he stood. He looked at the two other men in the room helping him with guard duty. “You two stay here. If either of them tries anything…shoot em.” He gestured for Luther to get up and they left the room, and headed down the hall to one of the back bedrooms.

Leonard put his hand on the doorknob and stopped, looking at Luther. “The tape stays on her mouth. We all know how hurtful words can be…” Luther nodded and Leonard turned the handle, letting the big man inside. Allison was sitting on the bed, propped up on the pillows, her feet and hands bound with the same duct tape that kept her from speaking. He rushed up to her and pulled her into his arms before whispering in her ear, “just follow my lead, we’re going to get you out of here.” She nodded and he kissed her tenderly on the cheek, just above the tape.   
He smiled and caressed the spot with one of his hands before Leonard coughed behind them. “Happy now?”  
“Can we bring her into the other room? It would be nice if Ben and Diego could meet their sister, and it would be easier to watch all of us in one place.”   
Luther was relying heavily on Leonard’s knack for being easily lead, and it paid off. “Fine, bring her.”

Luther as gently as he could, scooped Allison up in his arms and followed Leonard down the hall. As they walked, she slowly started to rub the side of the tape against his shoulder. He simply smiled and winked, whispering a reminder to follow his lead. He couldn’t have her jumping the gun until he knew that the others at Mom’s office were safe.

~~~

Cha Cha shoved Vanya a little too hard, in the smaller girl’s opinion into a grand office furnished with old style oak and weapons displayed as if it was an arms museum. Hazel followed, Five slung over his shoulder. As they reached the desk, a woman dressed all in black with stark white hair looked at Vanya and smiled. She held her gaze for a moment before Hazel plopped Five unceremoniously on a nearby couch. “Luther?” The woman asked.   
“Dead.” Cha Cha said, almost bored with the subject of her dead sibling.  
“Pity.” The woman walked over to survey Five’s lifeless body slumped on the couch. “But, his heart was never really in the job like Five’s was.” She turned to face Vanya. “And who might you be?”

Vanya mustered all of her acting ability to seem as afraid as she could. Truth be told, she didn’t have to act very hard. Powers or not, this woman gave Vanya the creeps. Also, Vanya had only used her powers for little things like helping her mom move heavy things in the garage or conjuring some rain for the garden. She never used them for violence and was hoping that if she was needed, she didn’t freeze. “Vanya.”   
“Vanya…hmmm...you must be number seven!” She nodded. “I knew that there was two girls and, well, we all know what happened to Number Three.” She took another look at Five’s passed out body before moving in on Vanya. “So tell me Number Seven…what are your powers?”  
“Uh, I don’t have any ma’am.”

“It’s true.” The Handler looked at Hazel with a questioning look on her face. “We found that she got adopted by the social services lady. She had this doctor, we questioned him and…nothing. No powers, just…ordinary.”  
“Then what the hell did you bring her here for?”  
“We figured that if Five didn’t want back in you know, on account of us killing his twin…” He looked at Vanya, then back at the Handler. “I guess they were real close as kids…best friends.”  
“Is that right?” She stepped next to Vanya and placed a cold hand on the side of her face. “We may just have a use for you after all. If Five doesn’t do as he’s told…well…” She patted Vanya’s cheek just a little too hard. “We’ll just have to play it by ear.” 

Vanya smiled and the Handler gave her a quizzical look before finding out first hand what the girl was smiling about. She felt a pressure on the back of her head and heard the sound of a pistol hammer being pulled back. Vanya and Hazel stepped aside to join Cha Cha near the door and the Handler tried her best to disfuse the situation. “Five…sweety. I’m so glad you’re ok. Cha Cha can do a real number on people and I was afraid…”  
“Save it.” He stepped back to let her turn around and face him. “You used us. For years you acted like you loved us and wanted what was best for us. What you really wanted was what was best for you.”  
“Now honey, you know I would never hurt…”  
“You tried to kill Delores.”  
“That was just business dear, we needed you to focus and…”  
“Shut up.”

The quiet standoff was interrupted by Hazel’s cell phone buzzing. He reached into his pocket, pulled it out, and turned off the alarm. “It’s time, they should be set.”  
“What is going on?” The Handler asked.  
“Your time is up Mom.” Five lifted his other hand up to cradle the handle of the gun along with the hand already there.   
“Call Dad.”  
“What?”  
“Call. Dad. Tell him to let the others go.”  
“Or what?”  
“Or you’ll be leaving here in a body bag rather than a cop car.”

The Handler stared into her son’s eyes as she faintly heard the sounds of sirens approaching the building. He was not bluffing. She slowly pulled out her cell phone from her pocket and with the other hand raised in surrender, she hit the call button. 

~~~

Ben’s leg was still going a mile a minute. Keep to the plan, keep to the plan. He just kept repeating to himself, knowing that Five and Luther knew these people better than any of them and if they wanted him to wait, he would wait. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Leonard’s phone rang. He smiled and hit the speaker button so they could all hear their fate.  
“Kate?”  
“Leonard? I trust everything is under control there?”  
“Of course, just waiting on your word.”  
There was silence on the other end of the phone, only a faint voice that Ben thought sounded like Five could be heard mumbling something to Kate.  
“Leonard…”  
“Yes dear?”  
“Kill them all.” A shot rang out over the phone line and then everything was silent for just a moment before the people in the room registered what just happened. 

It all happened so fast that Ben had a hard time keeping track of all the movement. Luther tackled Allison off of her chair and onto the ground where he laid on top of her, shielding her body as Diego fell off his chair and scurried around the other side of the couch. Ben stood, watching Leonard and the two guards almost in slow motion pull their weapons out. They thought they were fast, but he was faster. He grasped the bottom of his shirt and tugged upward, letting the monsters within him spring forth and wreak havoc on all those still standing in the room. 

When the monsters finally retreated, he shoved his shirt back down and slumped on the chair as Luther got up and rushed to pick up Leonard’s cell phone. He wiped as much of the blood off as he could and let it hover near his ear. “Five?”  
“In the flesh. Oh sorry, that’s probably insensitive given your current surroundings.”

Luther just chuckled and hung up the phone, knowing that they would all meet back at the safe house when they could. He looked up in time to see Diego and Ben helping Allison with her restraints and as Diego reached for the tape on her mouth he paused, “Are we sure we should take this off? I remember some awful shit someone made me do when I was a kid…”  
She reached up and pulled the tape off herself before laughing and taking her brothers into a hug.


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens next?

Five stepped into the small room that his brother was currently sitting in. He had his head in his hands and was slightly rocking back and forth. Hazel just looked at Five and shook his head. “Luther.” Nothing. “Luther!” Five knelt down in front of his twin and grabbed his shoulders, giving the bigger man a shake. Finally, Luther raised his head and looked at Five. “Pull yourself together man! 5 minutes.”  
“Oh shit.” Luther’s head dropped back into his hands. “I can’t do this.”  
“The hell you can’t.” Luther’s head shot up again. “I don’t know why you’re so nervous anyway. You just have to stand there and repeat after some guy…I’m the one who has to give a speech.”  
“Yeah, but you can get drunk for that.”  
“No. Delores says she’s not sure when she’s going to see me in a fancy tux next so she wants me sober when she gets me back to the hotel room.” He wiggled his eyebrows and finally, his brother seemed to relax a bit. “There he is.” 

Hazel put a hand on Luther’s back. “You’re gonna be fine. As soon as you see Allison walk down that aisle…you’re gonna forget everyone else is even here.”  
The door swung open and Cha Cha came in with a scowl on her face. She was pulling at the bust of her dress. “I’m a groomsman, why can’t I wear a tux again?”  
“Because,” Five smirked. “You make such a fine, sophisticated lady.”  
“I will shove my fine sophisticated foot up your…”  
“Ok everyone!” Vanya called from behind Cha Cha as she muscled her way into the small room. “It’s time!”  
“It’s time.” Luther repeated almost zombie like. 

Five herded everyone out of the room before closing the door and turning to his brother. “Hey.” Luther looked at him. “You love her, right?”  
“Of course.”  
“And she loves you.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Then that’s all that matters.”  
Luther took in a deep breath and smiled. “Thanks Five.”  
“Besides,” Five added as they left the room to head to the back of the church, “I wouldn’t worry about making a fool of yourself…in this family, I guaranTEE someone will beat you to it.”

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this! I am pretty proud of it and comments are VERY welcome.
> 
> I may or may not have a couple of vignettes to add to this mini universe (a day in the life of Klaus as Delores' new assistant, or Five and Cha Cha as bail-bondsmen). Who knows what I'll come up with between episodes of the Larry-oke chronicles?


End file.
